Blade dispenser with used blade compartment



March 9,, 1954 M. .J; SHNIITZLER BLADE DISPENSER WITH USED BLADE COMPARTMENT File d 1m. 15, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet l March 9, 1954 Filed Dec M. J. SHNHTZLER BLADE DISPENSER WITH USED BLADE VCOMPARTMENT m'zww 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BLADE DISPENSER WITH USED BLADE COMPARTMENT Meyer J. Shnitzler, Brookline, Mass., assignor to The Gillette Company, a corporation of Delaware Application December 15, 1949, Serial No. 133,063

4 Claims. 1

This invention comprises a new and improved dispenser or magazine for safety razor blades and is of the type in which the blades are contained in unwrapped condition and arranged to be withdrawn or discharged by the user one-byone as required for shaving.

The general object of the invention is to provide a dispenser for a relatively small number of blades, for example, five to twelve blades, that may be constructed at small cost, that will be permanent in shape and proof against warping throughout its useful life as well as convenient for use and capable of handling the blades without danger of damage.

The dispenser may be formed of any suitable material but is herein shown as comprising a body portion of moldable plastic such as synthetic resin combined with cover and bottom portions of thin sheet metal. This construction has proved to be advantageous from the point of.

economical manufacture in that the entire plastic body portion may be molded in a single operation and conveniently assembled with the cover and bottom. The top cover cooperates with the upper part of the body portion in providing an enclosure for a stack of fresh, sharp blades, while the bottom cooperates with the lower part of the body in providing a compartment or receptacle for used blades. Moreover, if desired, the top cover may be utilized to retain in place the bottom for the used blade receptacle.

These and other features of invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view on an enlarged scale of the complete dispenser with blades.

Fig. 2 is a corresponding end view.

Fig. 3 is a view in side elevation.

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view.

Fig. 5 is a view in longitudinal section on the line 55 of Fig. 1 but on an enlarged scale and showing no blades.

Fig. 6 is a view in cross section on the line 66 of Fig. 1 and on a still larger scale.

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary view in longitudinal section on the line 'l! of Fig. 9.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view in cross section on the line 8-8 of Fig. 9.

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the body portion of the dispenser, shown as containing a single blade.

Fig. 10 is a corresponding view in side elevation.

Fig. 11 is a bottom plan view .of the cover of the dispenser.

Fig. 12 is a view of the cover in longitudinal section, and

Fig. 13 is a view of the complete dispenser in longitudinal section shown with contained blades.

In the form herein illustrated, the body of the dispenser is rectangular in shape and provided with a bottom partition I0 and side walls H and i2. The side walls are notched or recessed as best shown in Fig. 8 and provided in their lower edges each with a longitudinal channel i3. From the bottom l0 projects upwardly a pair of spaced blade-locating ribs [5 and I5 which, as shown in Figs. 5 and 7, are provided with smoothly inclined inner edges and abrupt outer shoulders. At therfoot of each rib the bottom iii is provided with a small concave recess IT. The purpose of these recesses is to insure that there shall be not obstruction at the base of either rib that would interrupt or delay outward movement of a blade by catching its solid end as the blade is discharged.

In addition to the blade-locating ribs above described, the bottom H] of the body portion of the dispenser is provided at each end with a pair of spaced ramps [8. These ramps are symmetrically arranged and lead to the exit openings of the dispenser. They are so located as to engage the shoulders of a blade as it is being discharged and guide the blade smoothly upwardly and through the exit opening. Adjacent to each ramp i8 a square notch i9 is provided in the end edges of the body portion and these notches permit the insertion of a blade-centering tool after the dispenser has been filled with blades and for the purpose of centering the blade stack equally between the ends of the dispenser.

Each of the walls I I and I2 is provided at both of its ends with a projecting pad 20 which is shaped to provide a smooth rounded corner for the dispenser as a whole at its outer edge and presents a downwardly and inwardly inclined inher edge shaped to fit'the coverof the device as will be presently explained. Each of the pads 20 is provided on its inner face with an upright boss or post 2|. The bosses are of less height than the pads 20 and provide shoulders or rests for the ends of the cover.

The bottom partition I0 of the body portion of the dispenser is provided at each end with an external central groove 22 which serves to assist the user in locating the dispenser properly with respect to his razor when a blade is to be transferred from the dispenser to the razor. The bottom 10 has an inwardly oiiset area defined at each end by transverse walls or shoulders and providing a well M which is utilized as the used blade compartment. The bottom I drops downwardly at each end of its ofi'set area and then presents an upwardly sloping surface that extends to the exit slot, as best shown in Figs. and 7. The ramps l8 rise from these sloping surfaces. The well is closed and the compartment formed by a bottom cover 2-3 of sheet metal havink flanged side walls 24 which fit at both sides of the dispenser into the longitudinal channels I3 already referred to. bottom cover 23 is best shown in'Fig. 4 from which it will be seen that its ends terminate short of the ends of the well 14 thus defining inlet slots through which used blades may be'insertedinto the used blade compartment.

The dispenser is completed by a top cover herein shown as formed of-spring sheet metal and as having a centrally disposed finger hole 26 surrounded by a narrow inturned flange, and side walls 27, both of which are provided with inturnedor upturned flanges -28 at the lower edges. The top cover is so shaped and its side walls so proportioned that theyspan and fit over 'the side walls 5 I andiz ofthe plastic body portion and'maybe'snappedinto the longitudinal channels, in position to overlie and engage the flanges 25 of the bottom23. The opposite ends of the top cover'25 are folded inwardly and forked so as to .provide leaf springs 29 which hear at four separate points upon the'blade stack contained within the dispenser. The folded outer edges of the top cover 25 cooperate with the outer endedges of the body portion of the dispenser indefining a blade exit-slot at each end of the dispenser. inbut constitutes inpart'the'subject matter of U."S.'Patent 'No. 2,617,520 of November 11, 1952,

The folded cover is-not claimed here- Eenedict and Shnitzler.

The dispenser is herein shown as designed to contain thin double-edged blades 30 of wellknown commercial type. Each of these blades is provided with a central longitudinal slot 3| having local-enlargements shaped to fit corresponding projections in the razor in which the blade is to be used. The blades are also-notched at each corner to provide solid elongated end portions of reduced width and each blade is provided with a pair of arrows-32 or other suitable designation for indicating the direction in which the uppermost blade in-the stack should be moved in withdrawingit from the dispenser. It will be understood that the body portion of the dispenser may be charged with'a'stack of blades arranged alternately in longitudinally staggered relation, that is to say, certain of the blades are'empaled on the rib l5 and alternate bladesupon the rib l6. Those empaled on the rib [5 are free to move towards the left as shown in Fig. 9'and when the solid end of the blade reaches the rib IE, it will ride up its inclined edge so that the end of the blade will be trans- "versely flexedand slightly retarded as it emerges.

whileth'e flanged longitudinal edges of the cover engage thefianged side walls of the bottom'23 of the usedlblade compartment. ,parent that when the cover 25 is assembled in this manner the-springsI2'9 will tendyieldingly It will be ap- The shape of the filed "November 12,

4 to press the blade stack down on both sides of the ribs l5 and Hi. When the user desires to remove a blade, he has only to engage the uppermost blade in the stack by inserting his thumb or finger through the opening 26 and then frictionally to move the blade in the proper direction as'indicated by the arrows 32 which at that time are exposed to view in the opening. The discharge of one blade at one end of the dispenser uncovers the next blade in the stack and this wellbe-so-placed as to be capable of movement only in the opposite direction for discharge at the other end of the dispenser.

The height'ofthe-bosses 2| is such that, when "the cover 25 is supported thereon by its end portions of double thickness, the cover is maintained in flush relation with top edges of the projecting pads 20 of the side walls, so that the "whole top surface of .the dispenser presents a smooth streamlined appearance.

The invention-is claimed herein as embodied in blade dispensers with used blade compartments. It is disclosed'and claimed more broadly in my divisional application Serial No. 320,030,

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail "an illustrative embodiment thereof, I claim a's'new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A blade dispenser comprising a rectangular body portion having abottom partition formed with an external well and upright side walls each having a longitudinal downwardly open channel near its lower edge, a sheet metal bottom cover for the well "having fianges fitting in said channels, and 'a'sh'eet metal top cover forming with the body a blade-containing chamber and having downwardly extending side walls with inwardly extending flanges which engage the flanges of said'bottom'cover and hold them in 'place in said channel.

2. A blade dispenser of rectangular contour, comprising-a'top-cover and'a bottom cover-of spring sheet metal, and an intermediate body portion of plastic material having side walls forming chambers on both sides of the intermediate body and longitudinal downwardly open channels-in its side walls, the top cover having downwardlyextending side walls with inturned flanges and the bottom'coverhaving continuous flanged sides, said flanges engaged with each other and inter-locking in saidlongitudinal channels.

3. A 'blade "dispenser having side walls each with 'a'lon'gltudinal groove therein and a'bottom partition'with aninwardly ofiset'area, which is substantially "shorter than the side walls and extending flanges fitting in the longitudinal grooves of the side walls, and'a bottom cover'havingfianges interlocked-with those of the top cover in saidgrooves.

4. A blade dispenser of substantially rectangular eontourcomprising an intermediate body portion of plastic'material having a'bottom partition offset inwardly'and defined atboth ends by transverse shoulders merging into upwardly sloping end portions, 'a top cover forming with said'bottom partition'a blade-"containing chamber and blade exit openings, spaced ramps on each 'endportion sloping'upwardly toward the exit openings, a, bottom cover engaged at its side edges with the intermediate body portion, forming a used-blade compartment therewith and terminating short of said transverse shoulders thereby providing blade-inlet openings at both ends of the latter compartment, and means for attaching the bottom cover to said plastic body.

MEYER J. SI-INITZLER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Swan June 14, 1932 Number Number Number 

